The Presbyterian Outlook

News and Articles from the The Presbyterian Outlook

Top Search/Contact Area

Commission clarifies oversight authority in Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) legal cases

by Leave a Comment

The Moving Forward Implementation Commission – meeting in an unannounced closed session on a Sunday night – has acted to make it clear that the board of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation has the authority to manage secular litigation involving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Although the action the commission took doesn’t say so, this meeting came on the heels of an action in May by John Sheller, an outside counsel in the case, to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a defamation case involving Eric Hoey, who was the PC(USA)’s former director of evangelism and church growth and one of four men who lost their jobs with the denomination following an ethics investigation involving the 1001 New Worshipping Communities program. And it comes just before a called meeting June 27 of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board – another closed meeting, according to the public notice of it. The U.S. Supreme Court considered Sheller’s petition for a stay on May 30 from a 2018 … [Read more...]

Tagged With: Moving Forward Implementation Commission • PMA board

Moving Forward Implementation Commission takes action on financial sustainability

by Leave a Comment

In August, the Moving Forward Implementation Commission wants to make a progress report of sorts to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at Big Tent. And the work the commission is doing – including at a June 17-18 meeting in Texas – shows how leaders involved at the national levels of the denomination are trying to sort through complex issues that are hard to squish into a headline, but are the types of things that rise up over and over as concerns in the PC(USA). For example: How well is the PC(USA) doing with issues of inclusion and diversity – and who’s responsible for assessing that? How well is the denomination doing financially? What’s being done to make sure that Presbyterians for whom English is not their first language have access to resources and consequently to having a voice and power in the PC(USA)? Here’s some of what the commission did and discussed this week. Financial sustainability The commission took action at this meeting to try to clarify some of the … [Read more...]

Tagged With: Moving Forward Implementation Commission

Diane Moffett casts the Matthew 25 vision to the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board

by Leave a Comment

Diane Moffett, president and executive director of the Presbyterian Mission Agency, wants all Presbyterians to hear of the Matthew 25 vision in the next two years – “to make sure it gets down to every level” of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). And she told members of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board during a June 17 conference call meeting that “I’d like you to be an advocate and a cheerleader on every level” for the Matthew 25 vision, which the agency unrolled April 1. So far, “people are very open to this,” she said. “We have not gotten a lot of push back at all,” but Presbyterians seem eager for something that unites and connects the denomination. Moffett is careful to describe Matthew 25 as a “vision” and not an initiative – with board member Marci Glass of Idaho saying she’s heard people asking questions about what’s the difference, for example, between Matthew 25 and other PC(USA) endeavors, such as Hands and Feetor 1001 New Worshipping Communities. (The short … [Read more...]

Tagged With: PMA board

National Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) staff march to end cash bail

by Leave a Comment

  LOUISVILLE (Outlook) – Marching through downtown Louisville shouting “End cash bail!” and toting “Freedom should be free” signs, a group of employees from the national offices of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) led a rally June 12 calling for the end of a system they say is unjust and exacts a too-harsh price from low-income people arrested for minor offenses. “This is not a flash in the pan work,” said J. Herbert Nelson, the PC(IUSA)’s stated clerk, who marched at the front of a line of more than 100 people – many of them PC(USA) employees. “We are planning to stay together and stand together” until the system of cash bail ends across the nation. Jimmie Hawkins, director of the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness, prayed after the march led to a rally in Jefferson Square – across the street from the county jail – “that the prison doors and jail doors may be thrown open.” “No justice! No peace! Hallelujah!” shouted Diane Moffett, president and executive director … [Read more...]

Kathy Lueckert named as president of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation

by Leave a Comment

After meeting in closed session June 11, the board of directors of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A), A Corporation released word that it had elected Kathy Lueckert as president of the A Corporation, for a four-year term subject to approval by the 2020 General Assembly. Lueckert – a ruling elder and currently director of finance and administration at the 4,800-member Village Church in Prairie Village, Kansas – served from 1999 to 2004 as deputy executive director and executive vice president of the General Assembly Council, a precursor to what’s now known as the Presbyterian Mission Agency. She also has administrative experience with World Vision, the City of Seattle and the City of Plymouth, Minnesota. The A Corporation is the corporate entity for the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Office of the General Assembly. In her new role, which she is to start on August 12, Lueckert will manage the Administrative Services Group – roughly 80 employees in seven departments, which … [Read more...]

U.S. Supreme Court denies petition to hear Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) case

by Leave a Comment

The United States Supreme Court has denied a petition for a stay in a defamation case involving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which means the case – brought by Eric Hoey, formerly the PC(USA)’s director of evangelism and church growth – will proceed in state court in Kentucky. The PC(USA) had petitioned to the nation’s highest court for a stay of a Kentucky Supreme Court ruling because it’s trying to prevent Hoey’s attorney from proceeding with discovery in the case, which potentially could require the denomination to turn over certain documents and sworn statements related to a 2014 ethics investigation involving the 1001 New Worshipping Communities program. Four men, including Hoey, lost their jobs in June 2015 as a result of that investigation.  Hoey filed a defamation case against the denomination in the summer of 2015, and in September 2018 the Kentucky Supreme Court sent the case back to Kentucky Circuit Judge Brian C. Edwards for limited discovery on the question … [Read more...]

CONTACT US: